General Notes

cn. cornelius, P* f. lentulus mar­cellinus, son of the preceding. (Dion Cass* Arg. xxxix.) He is first mentioned as zealously sup­porting the cause of the Sicilians against Verres^ while yet a young man, b. c. 70. (Cic. Div. in Caecil. 4, in Verr. ii. 42.) He next appears in b. c. 61, as supporting Jhis kinsman, L. Lentulus Crus, in the accusation of Clodius, for violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea. (Schol. Bob. ad Cic. in Clod. p. 336, ed. Orell.) In B. c. 59 he held the office of praetor, and presided at the trial of C. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero. (Cic. in Vatin. 11; Orell. Onom. Tull. p. 177.) The fol­lowing year he repaired to Syria, and administered that province for nearly two years, during which his time was principally taken up with repressing the predatory incursions of the neighbouring Arabs. (Appian, Syr. 51.) But he returned to Rome soon enough to sue for the, consulship at the elec­tions of the year 57, and was chosen for the en­suing year, together with L. Marcius Philippus. Before the close of the same year also he took a prominent part in favour of Cicero, after the return of the latter from exile, and exerted himself zea­lously and successfully to procure the restoration of his house and property. (Cic. ad Ait, iv. 2, 3, ad Q. Fr. ii. 1, de Har. resp. i. 7.) During the year of his consulship (b. c. 56), Marcellinus op­posed a vigorous resistance to the factious violence of Clodius and of the tribune C. Cato ; and by his conduct in this respect earned from Cicero the praise of being one of the best consuls he had ever seen. (Ad Q. Fr. ii. 6.) At the same time he endeavoured to check the ambition and restrain the power of Pompey, and at the very commencement of his magistracy succeeded in preventing his being sent to Egjrpt with, an army to reinstate Ptolemy Auletes. But not content with this, he was con­stantly inveighing against him and his ambition in his speeches both to the senate and people: and though the former generally were disposed to concur with him in these sentiments, it is probable that these attacks of Marcellinus contributed to induce Pompey to draw closer the bonds which united him to his brother triumvirs, at the inter­view which took place this year at Lucca. (Cic. ad Fam. i. 1, 2, ad Q. Fr. ii. 6 ; Dion Cass. xxxix. 16, 18.) We hear very little of Marcellinus after the expiration of his consulship ; and the period of his death is wholly unknown. Cicero praises his eloquence, which displayed itself especially during the time that he was consul. (Brut. 70.) He held the sacerdotal office of one of the Epulones. (Id. de Har. resp. 10.) [Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology II:935-936]